On Trial are one of Denmark’s best and longest running psychedelic rock bands. The band have made many records and tours over the years and are trying to reach out to a broader audience with the release of the excellent, Blinded by the Sun CD. It will soon be released in the USA on Tee Pee records and the band will play 4 shows including NYC and Boston later this year. I caught up with the band for a little chat….

LC: How does it feel to be one of Denmark’s longest running psychedelic rock bands (started in 1987!) and yet some people consider you a new band?- Why???

Nik: They do? Actually, I think I can understand them. We've had a few radical identity changes - in a lot of ways we've only been around since '95 or something.
Bo: How does it feel? We’ve been around the block quite a few times, but we’ve never made it big. It seems to get a little bigger and take us a little further every time there’s a new record out. I think it has to do with the fact that we come out of a punk-scene, and self-promotion was never really a matter. I guess we kind of thought that the music would talk for itself. In many ways its still like that, many a music journalist has referred to O.T. as one of dk’s best kept secrets. Though not recognised, one could say that we are the godfathers of garage-rock and psych in dk.

LC: In the early days (1987-90), you were a really different band, playing some straight rock and roll, garage covers (stooges), and psych covers... What was this period like?

Nik: We were on a mission to bring rock'n'roll to Copenhagen (or, indeed, Denmark), cuz there was fuck all at the time - us & Sharing Patrol against the 3-headed monster of Sanne Salomonsen, Lis Sørensen & Anne Linnet.
Bo: While most of the punk scene in DK either turned conservative hardcore or went arty farty, I guess we got self-indulgently high on that scene because of the grooves and the cool. Its was just like doing what you’re good at and loving it, or the other way around. It was there for us to dig and take, it felt right. It felt real. Stooges, Blue Cheer, Music Machine, Sonics, Seeds etc. etc. all the pebbles compilations, Fuzztones, Cramps and Sharing Patrol live-shows, awesome.

TLC: he first album had another guitar player (Birgir ) and he seem to have a dominant influence on the sound for this record which became pretty much a straight rock record. How many were printed and sold of Like This?

Nik: It was more like the other way around with Birgir, i.e. he was in the band because of the style we played then; he left the band when we started straying from the straight bluesy rock'n'roll path. Blame the record company for the sound (well, always blame the record company, no matter what) - we wanted it to sound raw, like a real garage album. Then again, I'm not sure we were tight enough to do that. I don't know how much it sold.
Bo: My good Icelandic friend Birgir. Yeah of cause his participation played a big part, but at that time, we were all into the L.A. scene, Guns n’ roses and all that, especially Morten I think. And the fact that it was our fist time in a major studio, ever, so we were absolutely not in control of the outcome of that one.

LC: After Birgir left, you hooked up with the freak Anders and wow... something really happened. The Heavy Levitation Demo was a mix of heavy metal and psych stuff. Any comments???

Nik: Soundgarden, fat joints, lots of jamming, lots of experimental song writing. We were ready to go almost anywhere at that time - if it looked like a song, we chased it, although we didn't always catch it. I've lost the tape, but I haven't really missed it... We were hyperactive - writing new songs every second week, cramming them with breaks and stuff, to the point where the "arrangement blackboard" was absolutely necessary if we were gonna keep track of what we were playing.
Bo: Yeah, Zappa, Soundgarden, dope and Anders joining in.

LC: Something really happened though when the band discovered Monster Magnet and this scene. 70 kilometers of underwater Nothingness Kaptain is a classic, pretty much unknown stoned classic. Describe this period of the band...

Nik: I think we had been sending demos (the Heavy Levitation stuff and more) out to record companies on a small scale and getting standard 'no thanks'-replies, and were getting more and more pissed off about it. We had a whole bunch of new songs and wanted to try demo-recording in our rehearsal room, and then ended up figuring out that we could afford to release it ourselves.
Bo: I remember Jesper (Gas giant) introducing me to ”Spine of god”, ’cos he thought that that was what we were about, and I remember thinking WOW. Finally somebody had come up with the coolest combo of pure punk/garage energy, lots of psych, great songs and a cool low down attitude towards the whole deal. For O.T. it was a period of lots of rehearsals, of jamming, lots of jamming, only a few songs had tight arrangements, lots of smoking. And this is around the time when the band gets into vintage gear, pedals etc.

LC: This was the first time you played gigs outside of Denmark? What was the audience like at this time? Any memorable gigs or events you can recall or tour stories?

Nik: As I recall, we didn't go abroad till after Head Entrance. Anyway, people were hearing us for the first time. We were into going as far out on the psychedelic limb as humanly possible, I remember that more clearly than what the audience was like.
Bo: We did some really tough touring in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, hooking up w. Mother Superior two times. Lots of sleeping on cold concrete floors, lack of food and money. One of the tours w. M.S. called ”the Pleasure- rock Tour” I remember on stage, renaming to ”The Bobbie-trap torture Tour”. Bobbie-trap being the name of the German agency that almost fucked us up. But then again, we were doing it, got a lot of experience and actually played a lot of excellent and sometimes even crowded shows. Some of them captured on ”psychedelic freakout party”.

LC: We heard that your 2nd record, 70 kilometers of underwater Nothingness Kaptain will finally be released on vinyl and CD again. Have you heard when?

Nik: Once we agree with Morten how we do it - he wouldn't sign Molten's idea of a deal. Fair enough. But still: hey Morten, pass that album, you're bogarting it!

LC: Sometime after this Anders left and Henrik replaced him on guitar. Henriks style was very different from Anders and this was very apparent on the Head Entrance CD. This CD was again recorded in the rehearsal room on 8 tracks but really captured a unique feel and vibe. Tell us about this period of the band...

Nik: Pretty gloomy... Those years were the total apex of guitar music, we really felt like outsiders, and had to fight nail & teeth for every little piece of recognition. HP Lovecraft & 13th Floor elevators in the air, as you can see on the sleeve notes - quite a lot of dark spirituality.
BTW: Head Entrance came out on vinyl in the first place, thanks to the very persistent and right honourable Mr. Henrik Busk of Helicopter Records. We got the CD deal with SPV thanks to that.
Bo: I recall that Henrik was thrown into it, I think we did two rehearsals and went on another tour. Ah yes, Head entrance. We wanted to do another SKUNK-like album, only with a few more tracks/options and a better sound. I recall a lot of experimenting with lines of pedals, backwards messages and, perhaps the songs tended to get more melodic.

LC: It was after Head Entrance and its distribution via SPV that you really started getting a name in Germany. This lead to hooking up with Delerium for the release of New Day Rising and the HEAD Ep, of great cover songs.

LC: How did the band come to decide on certain cover songs to record? You have over the early played a lot of different cover song and finally got down to recording them. While some bands avoid cover songs, you guys have always played quite a few and made them into your own. Especially, Slip inside this house by Roky Erikson. Any comments?

Nik: The songs on the Head ep were recorded one at a time at sessions along the way - I don't think there are two songs from the same session. It was pretty much songs we'd done live that at least one of us liked and that felt right when the band played them. "Slip inside" is more a trip than a song.
Bo: It was just a matter of recording the cover songs we had done live most recently in that period. Most of them were already made for compilations.

LC: What was it like playing Roskilde Festival for 2 years in a row? This is Denmark's biggest festival and it is really an achievement to get to play there if you are a Danish band.

Nik: It was fuckin early in the morning both times, that's how it was, and felt like a "well they've been around so long so I guess we have to book them"-kinda thing. I would gladly have traded "early Sunday green stage" for "Saturday night white stage". I was shit nervous and petrified both times. Can't remember a thing from the first year (except I think our German ex-record guy had a big On Trial-banner), and the second time was over in a blink.
Bo: Of course we were thrilled and we really felt acknowledged. But having said that, we felt we had been placed really bad around or a little after noon both years. A tough time if you expect the crowd come around and get into garage/psych-rock. I think we pulled it of though. I can only imagine O.T. on a smaller stage ’round midnight (or later) somewhere on the festival.

LC: After some touring and gigs in support of New Day Rising, founding guitarist Morten, decided to leave. Anders came back to the band. How did this happen?

Nik: He'd wanted to leave for a long time (for a million different reasons that you'd better ask himself about) but we wouldn't let him go. Well, in the end we had to. At the time Anders had stopped going to raves and wanted to play guitar again, so he was the obvious choice to take over after Morten.
Bo: Ralph’s idea. Honestly I hadn’t seen it.

LC: Blinded by the Sun took nearly 2 years to come out but the reaction has been fantastic and the reviews in Denmark have never been so positive or as many. Were you surprised by the fantastic reviews for the Blinded by the Sun CD? It really is something new for Danish music people to be so positive about good rock and roll...

Nik: Haven't read that many reviews; seemed like they wrote what they always write - Erik Jensen/Politiken likes the short songs but can't get his thick head around the trippy stuff, Gaffa has finally been tricked into thinking that we actually have some leverage and feel they have to be positive, but it's clear that they haven't been touched for real. Treo is the only one of the filthy bunch that can be trusted, whether he likes the album or not.
Bo: Usually we get pretty good reviews, it just doesn’t sell. Actually I don’t know if this time was special, but about the album: I’ve never before felt this certain about anything we’ve ever done before w. O.T. Something new? Perhaps the new hyped garage scene is working for us. One can only hope.
What plans do you have for the summer and fall to support the release now that it is coming out all over Europe and in the US as well?
Nik: We're working on it - actually it's a pretty decent booking agency who's working on it. They love "Blinded by..", hehe. Oct-nov/january and both continents, hopefully.
Bo: We’re planning a smaller tour to U.S. due late fall, and currently we’re waiting for confirmation from our European promoters.
When will the vinyl version be released?
Nik: The fine people of the Dutch agency/rec company Clearspot will send the album to the printer as soon as Richard, head of Molten records, gets a licensing contract together for them to sign. We're still waiting.
Bi: The vinyl???? Totally overdue. Stupid record company laziness.

LC: Now, the present. It is now known that Guf and Anders due to various circumstances will leave On Trial. How did you meet up with Rasmus and Anders from Mother Superior?

Nik: It's mostly "business connections" (in a good way): Anders - we toured with Mother Superior one of the first tours of Germany and played with them a couple of times since then; Ralph (our booker/sound man) has also been working with them a lot, touring - with Henrik as the buzz driver, plus they've spent the night at Henrik's place a lot of times. Rasmus - Ralph booked his old band too a couple of times. To begin with, though, Rasmus was booker at a club, and Ralph kept pushing him to listen hard to "Head Entrance" and book On Trial - finally Rasmus gave in, and he's never been quite the same person since then, much to the dismay of his friends & family. Henrik suggested him, and yeah, it does seem right!
Bo: We wanted to try with Anders because we were confident from the touring with Mother Superieo., that he had the groove and the insight of style and feel that we were looking for, and he just proved us right. Rasmus plays with We and has a past in Strømning and as a local promoter in Silkeborg, where we first met him years ago. He was a big fan of the band and shoved up for the first rehearsal knowing, feeling, and relating to a lot of the songs. I was totally surprised about his feel (and vintage gear).
Guf: The only way I can possibly make anybody understand - who hasn’t tried being in a band for 17 years - is to compare it with being married. I just felt that it was time to move on and find a new girlfriend. I guess the same goes for Anders. It’s been a long fun ride and I think we achieved many great things in the process. Also, I’m actually really happy the other guys have decided to go on and find a new drummer. I sincerely wish them the best of luck. Keep on trucking!

LC: How will this change On Trial, having two new members?

Nik: Hard to tell, since we've really only been going thru the old set list (and goddamn, I'm getting sick and tired of all that old crap by now). Right now the feel at rehearsals is more like New Day Rising, fresher, not as heavy. But we're still only getting into the songs, so it's really too early to say.
Bo: How it will effect the band is to early to say, but expect them to take full part in every process concerning O.T.
What is the future for On Trial?? Do you have a vision?
Nik: Apart from supercharged positive vibes & exploding suns, it's simply just time to get a move on. This band has been glued to the couch for way way way too long now. We gotta get The Band back together, maaan!
Bo: Acknowlgement, fame, a new world order and a furry tongue

LC: Any last comments for the fans?

Nik: You like it? hey, sooper great!, Supercharged positive vibes & exploding suns to all of you.
Bo: Buy our stuff. We need the money.

On Trial Discography
1990 Angel of Love/Dog and Bone 7" (GRRR.01) 1000 copies
1991 The Husum Sessions Demo
Like this... LP (SNOG Rock Records 08-25871-20-1) 625 copies
Nødde Knækkeren Demo
1992 Kvisten Demo
1993 Heavy Levitation Demo
Rådmandsgade Demo
1995 70 Kilometers of Underwater Nothingness, Kaptain! CD only
(Omnium Records LSD001) 500 copies
1997 Head Entrance LP (Helicopter Records HR5-B) 300 copies
1997 Head Entrance CD (SPV/Rebel Records 085-45942) 2000 copies
1997 Children of the Night- What Music they Make- A Tribute to Roky Erikson
On Trial- I've always been here Before
1998 Head 10" (Delerium Records) 500 copies
1999 New Day Rising CD (Delerium Records DELEC CD 073)
Zoo Magazine CD 19 (Denmark) Track: Long Time Gone
2000 New Day Rising LP (Delerium Records DELEC CD 073) 1000 copies
2001 Four Track Mind Demo CD
2003 Blinded by the Sun (Molten Records)

www.ontrial.suite.dk